Monday, March 22, 2010

Tiger Gives Man Deadly Wake-Up Call in Jambi

A man was killed when a Sumatran tiger dragged him from a forest hut, breaking his neck and crushing his skull before his friends could save him, a conservation official said on Monday.

The 25-year-old victim died from injuries sustained in the Sunday night attack at Berbak National Park in Jambi, the provincial conservation agency head Didi Wuryanto told Agence France-Presse.

“A Sumatran tiger went into the makeshift hut while they were asleep and dragged one of the men out,” he said. “His friends heard screaming, but when they got to him, it was too late.”

Authorities are investigating why the men camped overnight in a forest where tigers were known to roam, he added.

Human-animal conflicts are becoming a rising problem as people encroach on wildlife habitats, particularly in the rainforests of Sumatra and Kalimantan.

In a separate development, officials on Monday said that the adult female tiger and three cubs found during a recent raid of an estate in Pondok Cabe Ilir, Tangerang, were indeed critically endangered Sumatran tigers.

The Feb. 20 raid, which involved officers from the National Police and Jakarta’s Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), also found 20 other exotic animals, including four birds of paradise, two Timor deer, three eclectus parrots and other rare birds in a two-hectare property belonging to Henry Yukio Sujatim.

“We have already done DNA tests on the tigers and they are Sumatran tigers,” said Darori, the Ministry of Forestry’s director general for forest protection and nature conservation, adding that the animals were now being quarantined at the Gadog Animal Rescue Center in Bogor and Tegal Alur Animal Rescue Center in West Jakarta.

He said Henry faced up to five years in prison and a Rp 100 million ($11,000) fine.

But Muslim Arief Toengkagie, head of the Jakarta BKSDA, said the owner had not been taken into custody because he was cooperating with authorities.

Irma Hermawati, coordinator of the Wildlife Advocacy Institution, said the owner needed to be thoroughly investigated to help bring down the illegal animal trade.